It’s the classic never-ending battle between employees and management. It’s known as the ‘KTD’ syndrome that some businesses unfortunately seem to have. Short for ‘kept in the dark’, it’s an office culture whereby the management keep their employees constantly out of the loop and uninformed. Only when there is a new task at hand do they communicate with employees about the wider goals of the business. Even then, some companies create brief which they hope employees can look back on to have any of their queries answered. The important thing to note here is, yes secrecy in business is valid but it’s entirely circumstantial and should have an organized hierarchy that it follows. However, when there is a lack of basic communication in offices, employees can start to feel marginalized by their own managers and heads of departments. Here is how you can implement some level of secrecy but still keep employees informed of things they need to know.
Keeping it hush-hush
Where is secrecy valid in a business? Quite clearly, it’s usually in the financial department. Employees in the research and development and marketing departments don’t need to know what the company’s finances are. They just need the funding for their departments and that’s it. Only employees in the risk and legal departments as well as the C-suite, need to know of such sensitive information. But how do you stop your documents from getting into the wrong hands or seen by spying eyes? A specialized storage service such as the type Complete Document Solutions, Inc provides is definitely one of the first places to look. They provide mobile security, so if you have some secret documents on your phone, they can make sure they are coated in protection from hackers. Ownership and access protocols are also enforced so only the people you deem necessary and or trustworthy will be able to look at materials that you want kept hush-hush.
Sudden project changes
Employees hard at work, completing tasks should never be blindsided by sudden project changes. A client might tell you that they have changed their mind and they would like something different or perhaps added on to their original requests. Managers should inform all employees rather than just a select few with whom the new tasks will be assigned to. Every department is linked together somehow, so every project will involve employees from all levels and sides of your business. In the interest of keeping morale high and showing respect to your employees, it’s wise to inform them of the changes required in a formal weekly meeting. They may have to abandon work they have already done which will be disheartening to some but this way you are upfront and honest with them and showing understanding of their grievances.
There will always be some level of secrecy at the highest levels of companies. However keeping your documents safe is paramount to stopping leaks from occurring. Always be honest with your employees when a task they were working on has changed. Explain the reasons for this and their morale will be kept high.
